Michigan not swallowing Obama's plans

WARREN, Mich. – The state that gave 54 percent of its vote to Barack Obama last November greeted his first return since the election on Tuesday with skepticism, doubt and anxiety about the future.
Obama, accompanied by his campaign manager, David Plouffe, on Air Force One, arrived in this Detroit suburb, where one in five residents is unemployed, to face one of the most challenging audiences of his six-month-old presidency.
The president came to Warren to talk about community colleges, but that topic was far down the list of priorities for residents who said their top concerns did not get beyond one word: jobs.
Obama stepped onto a small stage set up outside the entrance of Macomb Community College, and after receiving a notably lukewarm welcome, declared, “It’s not the time to shrink from the challenges we face.”
“I don’t have to tell you that Michigan in particular has been hard hit,” Obama said at the beginning of his speech. He strove to convey that jobs were his top priority, too – creating them, saving them and trying to find new ways to train for them.

Continues here: POLITICO

Obama's Failed charm offensive

What did President Obama achieve for himself and for America during last week's summit of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations in L'Aquila, Italy? Not much.
Despite what presumably was his best effort at using the charm, personality and teleprompter that catapulted him into office, he was unsuccessful in persuading either wealthy or developing nations to sign off on a plan to combat global warming. It's not that he lacks support from the European media. CNN International and the BBC, among others, continue to blanket their networks with "green" propaganda in a disinformation blitz that would have made Joseph Goebbels proud.
If Mr. Obama can't persuade 17 of the world's leading polluters to do more than pump out political hot air with nothing meaningful beyond unspecified pledges to reduce carbon emissions, why should Americans go it alone or with just some European nations joining us (maybe)? Congress favors a far more restrained approach to global climate change than those who pollute the planet far more than we do.

Honduras? The president is on the wrong side of that one, too. As Hondurans have demanded adherence to their constitution, the Obama administration has sided with a protege of Hugo Chavez's and the Castro brothers' who tried to obliterate it.

SEE FULL ARTICLE HERE: WASHINGTON TIMES

White House retracts

Just heard on CNN that the White House said Michelle Obama's father is not buried at Burr Oak Cemetery. Her Press Secretary had previously said he was.

Michelle Obama's father, Fraser Robinson, is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery.

The first lady's office confirms that Michelle Obama's father, Fraser Robinson, is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery. Workers at the cemetery are accused of digging up the dead, discarding bodies, and in some cases reselling burial plots.
Mr. Robinson died in 1991. There is no word on whether his grave was disturbed.
The first lady's office would not go into detail about the case.
"I can confirm that Mr. Robinson is buried at Burr Oak Cemetery but we will have no further comment on the matter," said Camille Johnston, Mrs. Obama's communications director.

ABC News's Yunji de Nies and Sunlen Miller report:
Michelle Obama's Burr Oak Cemetery Connection
July 14, 2009 1:34 PM

Hillary blames White House

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton rapped the White House yesterday for dragging its feet on appointing a critical agency head under her authority.
Her comments were her most direct slap at the administration since she assumed her post -- and highly unusual coming from a Cabinet official. Clinton spoke during a town-hall-style meeting in Washington with employees of the directorless US Agency for International Development.

Asked why it has taken more than six months to get someone named, she said it wasn't her fault.
"Let me say it's not for lack of trying," she said. " . . . The clearance and vetting process is a nightmare. It is frustrating beyond words. I pushed very hard last week, when I knew I was coming here, to get permission from the White House to be able to tell you that help is on the way and that someone will be nominated shortly. I was unable. The message came back: 'We're not ready.' "
Continue reading here:
MAD-AME SECRETARY HITS TOO-SLOW WHITE HOUSE
NY POST - By GEOFF EARLE, Post Correspondent

The 'Cap And Tax' Dead End (WaPo Op Ed by Sarah Palin)

There is no shortage of threats to our economy. America's unemployment rate recently hit its highest mark in more than 25 years and is expected to continue climbing. Worries are widespread that even when the economy finally rebounds, the recovery won't bring jobs. Our nation's debt is unsustainable, and the federal government's reach into the private sector is unprecedented.
Unfortunately, many in the national media would rather focus on the personality-driven political gossip of the day than on the gravity of these challenges. So, at risk of disappointing the chattering class, let me make clear what is foremost on my mind and where my focus will be:
I am deeply concerned about President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy. It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.
American prosperity has always been driven by the steady supply of abundant, affordable energy. Particularly in Alaska, we understand the inherent link between energy and prosperity, energy and opportunity, and energy and security. Consequently, many of us in this huge, energy-rich state recognize that the president's cap-and-trade energy tax would adversely affect every aspect of the U.S. economy. There is no denying that as the world becomes more industrialized, we need to reform our energy policy and become less dependent on foreign energy sources. But the answer doesn't lie in making energy scarcer and more expensive! Those who understand the issue know we can meet our energy needs and environmental challenges without destroying America's economy.
Job losses are so certain under this new cap-and-tax plan that it includes a provision accommodating newly unemployed workers from the resulting dried-up energy sector, to the tune of $4.2 billion over eight years. So much for creating jobs. (continues...)

'Jane Roe' Arrested at Supreme Court Hearing

The woman at the center of the Supreme Court's landmark abortion rights ruling was arrested today at the confirmation hearing for Sonia Sotomayor among a wave of anti-abortion protesters who lined the sidewalks outside the Senate office buildings and several of whom made it into the hearing room and disrupted in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings.
Norma McCorvey, 61, of Texas, better known as "Jane Roe" in the famous Roe v. Wade case from January 1973, was arrested after she and another protester started yelling during the opening statement of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), according to Capitol Police. McCorvey, whose pursuit of the right to access to abortion in the early 1970s led to the ruling that has been a pivotal part of every Supreme Court nomination process since, eventually become a notable opponent of the procedure.
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider of the Capitol Police said McCorvey and Francis Mahoney, 68, of Florida were charged with unlawful conduct for disrupting Congress, the third and fourth such arrests the police made during the more than five-hour proceedings. McCorvey was part of the group of protesters outside the Hart Senate Office Building throughout the day, a gathering led by Randall Terry, the former head of Operation Rescue, an organization dedicated to ending abortion.
McCorvey, who used Roe as an alias in her court filings for fear of retribution, remained an abortion-rights supporter until the mid-1990s. Working at a women's clinic in Dallas, she befriended some Operation Rescue protesters. In 1995, she was baptized and has been an anti-abortion activist ever since. .... continues here at Washington Post...